Jeff Roxroad is the referee. Judice starts on the outside looking
for openings and she tags Miller with an early combo. Miller
catches a leg, then switches to a rear body lock and shoves her foe
into the wire. Miller powers Judice to the mat and she’s got a body
triangle secured. Miller is hunting for the choke. Judice tries to
throw punches over the top of her head. Judice temporarily
scrambles out of danger, but Miller regains back control. Judice
stands, carrying Miller like a backpack. Judice discards Miller and
shoves her into the fence. Judice with a big elbow in close
quarters. Miller reverses position and goes to work with knees in
the clinch. Judice is able to free herself and they’re back at
range. Judice lands a kick to the body. Miller counters a front
kick with a jab. Judice steps in and lands a left uppercut. A
straight left stuns Judice and she looks to close distance. Judice
shoves her away and stays on the attack. Judice lands a front kick
and Miller can’t quite catch it. A short left lands for Judice, and
she follows up with a combination. Miller shoots out of
desperation, but Judice denies it and shoves Miller ito the cage.
Judice punches the body. Judice fires a few punches upstairs from
the clinch before the horn sounds. Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Judice Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Judice Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Judice

Miller fires a front kick and Judice responds with a kick to the
body and tags the “TUF 30” winner with a couple of punches. Judice
is more active throwing combinations and moving in and out. Judice
targets the legs and then another stiff straight left connects for
“Crispy.” Miller closes the distance, but Judice is able to free
herself and land another two-punch combo. Miller fires a jab and
goes low for a single leg. Judice denies it without issue. Judice
catches Miller coming in with a stiff left hand. Judice is
controlling the center of the Octagon well, and her defensive
wrestling is holding up nicely. Another counter left lands for
Judice. A hard body kick has Miller backing up. Miller misses a
spinning backfist. Judice with another left. “Crispy” fires off a
combination. Judice is doing well to touch her opponent with
strikes rather than loading up for power shots. An uppercut
followed by a left land for Judice. Judice is in complete control
as the round draws to a close. A head kick by Judice is partially
blocked by Miller. Judice lands a knee to the body and the follows
with a body kick and a left hand before the horn. Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Judice Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Judice Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Judice

Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Miller (29-28
Judice) Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Judice (30-27 Judice) Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Judice (30-27 Judice)

The opening bout of UFC Des Moines features two women looking to
move to .500 in the UFC, but only one can succeed. They go to work
at a gesturre from referee Tyrone Roberts. Petrovic is southpaw,
Miller orthodox to start off, and they exchange low kicks in the
opening moments. Lots of handfighting early on as both women try
and figure out the range. A low kick from Petrovic scores hard,
making Miller stumble. Miller closes the distance and drives
Petrovic to the fence, where she grabs underhooks and works to
bring the fight to the canvas. Petrovic overhooks with her left arm
and punches the body with her right. The Iowa crowd grows restive.
Petrovic reverses Miller into the cage. Miller grabs a front
headlock, tucking Petrovic’s head under her left armpit. Petrovic
tries a single-leg, but Miller moves away from the fence and
employs a nice snapdown to foil the attempt. Ninety seconds to go
in the round and the audience is definitely letting its displeasure
be heard. Petrovic gets a double-leg against the fence and hauls
Miller down, aided by a guillotine attempt by the American.
Petrovic pops her head out of danger and starts punching. Miller
turns her back and turtles against the fence on her knees and
elbows. Petrovic lands a few more punches as Miller goes to her
back. The horn sounds. Ben Duffy scores the round: 10-9 Petrovic Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Petrovic Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Petrovic

Miller clinches quickly and shoves Petrovic to the fence. The crowd
immediately begins booing, but this time Miller uses a body lock
and trip to dump the Norwegian to the mat within seconds. Petrovic
bridges, gets her hips out from under Miller and stands. They go
back to work in the center of the cage. Petrovic uses her right jab
to try and keep Miller at bay, wary of another clinch or takedown
attempt. She is successful for a few moments, but Miller takes
advantage of a slow body kick to catch the leg, switch to a high
body lock and dump Petrovic right back to the floor. Petrovic tries
to escape and Miller works toward taking her back. They end up in
an awkward position, almost spooning, but Miller manages to gain
back control, sinking her hooks with 90 seconds to go. Miller
punches the head from back mount, as Petrovic squirms and tries to
block the punches blind. Miller tries for a rear-naked choke, but
can’t secure an arm around the neck. With 30 seconds left in the
round, Petrovic spins halfway into guard, but Miller holds on until
the horn. Ben Duffy scores the round: 10-9 Miller Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Miller Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Miller

Ben Duffy scores the round: 10-9 Miller (29-28 Miller) Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Miller (29-28 Miller) Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Miller (29-28 Miller)

Fight fans have now passed the midpoint of what will be the longest
stretch of consecutive UFC weekends, and there are only seven to go
including UFC on ESPN 51. This will be the last event in the Apex
until its streak-ending Sept. 23 show, and it is certainly a fight
card. As mentioned in a previous article, 15 of the 26 fighters
tonight are coming in having lost their last bouts, and eight of
those have dropped two in a row or more. It all starts with
grappler-on-grappler action in the women’s flyweight division, as
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 30 victor Miller (3-2, 1-1 UFC) looks
to lift her promotional record above .500. She takes on promotional
newcomer Santos (5-1, 0-0 UFC), who made her way to the UFC not
through the Contender Series or any of the other feeder programs,
but from the LFA. This opening bout draws the assignment of referee
Jason Herzog, and it begins without a touch of gloves as Miller
charges like a bull. The two ladies immediately start swinging, and
Miller snaps the head back with a few heavy blows. Miller’s
aggression leads her into a clinch, where she immediately presses
onto her opponent while kneeing her in the gut. Santos turns the
corner and splits apart, and she resets. Miller walks her down,
stutter-stepping her way in and throwing hammers. Santos sits down
on a right hand to catch her on the way in, but Miller completely
ignores it and keeps on storming forward. Miller puts her hands on
Santos’ face, not landing with any individually damaging blow, but
getting Santos’ attention. The Brazilian woman steels herself and
launches a bomb of a right hand that bangs right into Miller’s
temple, rocking “Killer.” Santos does not let her foe off the hook,
as she slugs away and even mixes in a head kick as Miller leans her
back to the wall to stay upright. Miller leans forward to try to
slow things down, and Santos snatches up a guillotine choke that
ends up with the two ladies landing on the mat. Santos releases her
grip to allow them back to their feet, and she stays right in
Miller’s grill throwing hands. Santos belts her foe in the jaw a
few times, and Miller wobbles back to the wall and tries to counter
but is only flailing. Santos smashes Miller in the face, and Miller
reels and is in big trouble. Santos pours it on with fists flying,
and she connects repeatedly and does not care about anything Miller
gives back to her. Herzog is taking a close eye on the action, and
Santos tries to force a stoppage by laying into Miller with
everything she has. The punches keep coming, and Miller drops to a knee and fights her
way back up. Miller may be out on her feet, and Santos continues
busting her in the chops until Herzog has seen enough. This is a statement performance for the debuting Santos, who earns
her first career knockout in her biggest fight to date. Meanwhile,
she also becomes the first fighter to finish the TUF victor as a
professional.

The women’s flyweight bracket of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 30
comes to a close with a final matchup between Invicta FC vets
Walker (7-2, 0-0 UFC) and Miller (2-1, 0-0 UFC). Walker’s finish
rate may be low at 14%, and both of her wins on the season also
came on the scorecards, but she is ready to push “Killer” Miller to
the deep waters. Referee Keith Peterson has attached his
no-nonsense floaties in the event that said waters get reached, and
there is no love lost and the ladies do not touch gloves before
vying for a six-figure contract. Walker mean mugs her opponent as
she stares her down, and both women engage in a fierce striking
exchange. Walker punches her way into a clinch, only to get turned
around and tripped down to the canvas. Miller claims half guard and
starts landing a few strikes, but her attention is far more devoted
on maintaining position and not allowing Walker to drag her back to
her guard. Walker hangs on from beneath, slowing the offense down
from above, and Miller occasionally scores punches to the loud
cheers of her team and fans. The stalemate on the ground continues
with Miller unable to advance position or get off significant
ground-and-pound until Walker pulls her back and closes the guard
around her waist. Miller punches a few times to break the leg grip
around her ribs, and Walker switches to a high guard before getting
elbowed in the face. Walker turns and flinches when absorbing
strikes, and Miller comfortably keeps her trapped while the pace
slows to a crawl. An occasional elbow comes from “Killer,” and
Walker decides she is tired of absorbing these strikes and brings
her legs up high to isolate a shoulder. Walker turns to set up an
armbar, but she bails on it when the leverage is not right. Miller
comfortably drives elbows home on the cheek until the slow round
ends. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Miller Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Miller Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Miller

Things get a little chippy at the end of the second round, but
cooler heads prevail to allow them to get to their corners and take
the minute break. When the second round begins, Walker comes out
with a largely swollen left cheek, closing her eye up. She pays
this no mind as they start striking, with Walker’s longer, rangy
punches finding the mark. Miller gets tagged with a right hand, and
Walker powers her way into a clinch. Like the last round, Miller is
the one to reverse the position and dump Walker on her back. As
Walker hits the ground, she snatches up Miller’s ankle, and she
threatens with a leglock. Miller falls over as she tries to get
herself free, and she leaps on to the side of Walker to keep her
pressed down to her knees. Miller takes the back without any hook
in, and Walker sits up and tries to explode up but finds no space.
Miller pulls her back down and gets one hook in around the side,
and she shifts her arm grip to cinch up a rear-naked choke right on
the jaw of her opponent. Walker grits it out and lets Miller gas
her arms so that she can power her way up, and she turns the tables
and puts Miller on her back. “Killer” walks up the wall to stand
again, and Walker greets her with a knee to the body before
attempting to take her back down. This fails, and Miller wings a
punch to break them up. Walker does not stay at range for more than
a second before crashing forward to a clinch. Miller spins her
around against the cage, and when Walker is looking at a monitor to
find out her position, Miller blasts her in the face with an elbow.
Miller deftly snakes her legs between her adversary’s, allowing her
to trip Walker over and drop her down to the floor. Miller lands in
side control and hammers down elbows, and the round ends with
Walker hanging on tight. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Miller Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Miller Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Miller

After 10 minutes of combat, the ladies decide to bury the hatchet
and touch gloves. They come out swinging, and Walker pushes her
opponent back with her strikes. Low kicks come at the same time and
the shins clack together, and Miller presses forward only to get
bopped in the face with a left hand. Walker sneaks out a front kick
as Miller is advancing, and she flails with a few loose punches.
Miller walks through a low kick to score a one-two on the chin, and
she delivers the ball of her foot to Walker’s ribcage. They both
throw hands, and Miller is reaching Walker while Walker’s responses
are short of the mark. Miller scores a solid left hand, forcing
Walker to initiate a clinch. Miller puts her foe on her heels as
she lowers herself down, and slowly tackles Walker down. Miller
lands in full mount, and she commences a bombardment of punches and
elbows as Walker turtles up. Miller hacks at her with elbows while
Peterson takes a close eye on the action, and the elbows continue
to punish “The Bear.” Walker kicks off the fence to try to stand,
and Miller does not mind as she stays heavy and clobbers her
opponent with vicious elbow strikes. Walker bucks and turns to her
side, but Miller is not letting her up and continues to smack her
around. Miller methodically works ground-and-pound, and Peterson once more
is watching like a hawk as a finish could be right around the
corner. Miller turns up the heat and unleashes a hellacious salvo
of punches and elbows, and Peterson jumps in to stop the contest.
Miller is not done yet, and she stands up, motions the pro
wrestling X chop symbol and gives Walker a shove – while also
partially pushing Peterson. The new TUF flyweight
tourney winner gets pushed back and she drops it, sprinting over to
her corner to celebrate. This was one-way traffic for the young
Miller, who with just four pro fights now earns a shiny six-figure
UFC contract.

Juliana Miller

Fight History

Fighter Skills Radar

Key Insights

Striking Profile

Key Insights

Grappling Profile

Key Insights

Conclusions Summary